So, this chapter was pretty spur of the moment. I honestly had no idea for this until just now, but I suppose it was inevitable…
Anyways, the first three people to correctly guess those three mystery people were AuraGuardianRyan, Oathkeeper0317, and Grimmkeeper. Congrats guys!
Now, I'm sure many of you were wondering who the fourth person was, right? That would be the introduction of Amber Florence, it may have seemed random, but I'll have more on that at a later time. Until then, Enjoy!
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift."- Steve Prefontaine
Chapter 22: Challenge Accepted
Beacon Academy
Normal POV
It was the last week of semester, and teams RWBY, JNPR, SABR, and a few other teams were sitting in the stands of the combat arena, waiting anxiously for Professor Goodwitch to arrive.
As Goodwitch walked in, she said, "Alright class, seeing as this is the last week of semester, I think we should change things up a little bit. Today, we will be doing team battles."
This statement caused excited whispers to ripple through the stands with the students talking about the possible matchups.
"Settle down, settle down," Goodwitch said, "Are there any volunteers for the first match?"
Almost instantly, Ruby's hand went up.
"Miss Rose, did you and your team have an opponent in mind?" Goodwitch asked.
"We would like to face-"
She paused as Weiss whispered something in her ear.
"Oh Yeah!" she said, a wide smile forming over her face, "We would like to challenge Team SABR!"
"Okay then. Mr. Aurelius, do you have any objections?"
"We accept your challenge," Silver said, turning towards Ruby.
"Very well. Please go prepare for your match."
As both teams went to the locker rooms to change and get their weapons, Team JNPR and a few others were already placing bets on the winner.
"SABR's going to win," Ren said simply.
"Yang's going to break their legs!" Nora said excitedly.
"Both teams are highly skilled, but I have to place my bet on SABR," Pyrrha said.
"No way! Ruby's too fast, and Weiss can freeze them where they stand!" Jaune countered.
"We'll see soon enough…" Pyrrha said.
A few minutes later…
Once both teams were on the combat floor, Goodwitch retreated to a safe distance so that she would not be in the way.
"Are both teams ready?" she asked.
The eight students on the combat floor nodded.
"Good, oh, and before we begin, Mr. Aurelius, please try not to damage the combat floor."
Silver gave the professor a mock salute. "You got it, professor."
"Match begins in…"
"Five."
Teams RWBY and SABR drew their weapons.
"Four."
"Three."
Ruby and Yang got into position to charge forward.
"Two."
"One."
Everyone in the stands tensed in anticipation.
"Match start!"
Yang and Ruby flew forward, aiming to take down their opponents quickly, but they weren't expecting Silver and Bai to disappear in two flashes of light, or for Rowan to flicker into invisibility and Ash to phase through the floor.
Everyone looked around to see where SABR had gone, Team RWBY trying to stay ready for anything.
Suddenly, random sparks of electricity started to form in front of Blake, barely giving her any time to jump away with her semblance as Silver appeared with a slash of his swords.
Before the rest of the team could react to Silver's abrupt appearance, Yang dodged as several arrows flew towards her and impaled themselves where she had once been standing, Bai landing amongst them, his bow split into its dual sword form.
Ruby twirled her scythe to block a shot she had just barely seen coming from Rowan, who had flickered out of invisibility, while Weiss was just able to block a strike from Ash as he appeared out of the ground.
Each pair engaged in combat, intent on winning their individual duel so that they may help their teammates.
Silver and Blake were taking strikes and dodging with their respective semblances in an effort to take the other down. Silver would use his lightning to quickly get out of the way of a strike while Blake would use her shadow clones as a distraction to get away from Silver's slashes and swipes.
Ash and Weiss were locked in a duel with Weiss taking high-speed stabs at Ash as he quickly and carefully parried each attack. He used a combination of his sword and gauntlets to keep her at bay, but their fight was starting to become a stalemate.
Bai and Yang were also beginning to form a stalemate with Yang punching Bai's arrows out of the air, and Bai blocking every attack sent his way with constructs of light. Neither one was able to get much of an advantage over the other.
Rowan and Ruby were constantly going back and forth in their battle. Rowan was one-handing his sniper rifle in one hand, and his sword in the other, blocking Ruby's strikes as they came and taking shots whenever he got a chance, and Ruby trying to find an opening so that she could take him down quickly.
As the fight went on, both sides started to realize that they weren't getting anywhere with their current opponents, so SABR decided to switch it up a little.
As Rowan made Ruby retreat once again, he called out, "Ash, down and switch!"
Without hesitation, Ash bent over as Rowan vaulted over his back and kicked Weiss as she came in for another strike while Ash held off Ruby with his semblance and wrist mounted guns.
Silver and Bai's fights had gotten so close to each other that they were trading opponents every few seconds, Bai fending off Blake and Yang's attacks with his bow, and Silver using his lightning charged swords to keep them from getting very close to him.
When he and Bai were shoulder to shoulder facing their opponents, Silver had an idea.
"Hey Bai, I think some White Lightning action is in order, don't you think?" Silver asked.
Bai smiled. "Come on then."
Bai summoned some arrows of light and notched them in his bow. Then Silver created a sphere of lightning, keeping its shape with his willpower, and makes it float in front of the bow. Bai then released the arrows and they merged with Silver's lightning power and traveled faster than Blake and Yang could dodge, causing both to fall, and their Aura's to take a massive drop, but not enough to put them in the red.
Meanwhile, Weiss and Ruby had regrouped and were using their Ice Flower formation to try to freeze Rowan and Ash where they stood.
"Rowan! Ash!" Silver called, "Phased Bullet!"
Ash smirked and got into a stance while Rowan switched to Burn Dust rounds and took aim.
Weiss saw that they were up to something and formed a wall of ice between them to buy them time. She did not, however, move from the spot she was standing.
Rowan took aim at where he had seen Weiss standing and fired. Ash then manipulated the bullet with his semblance so that it would go right through the wall Weiss had created, sending her flying on contact, and putting her Aura level in the red, knocking her out of the fight.
Yang saw this and took a few shots at Ash, who couldn't manipulate an object he wasn't touching and himself at the same time. He couldn't activate his semblance in time, causing him to go flying into a wall, knocking him into the red and out of the fight.
Silver then took on Ruby in a high-speed duel that no one could track, as they only appeared in a speed they could register every few seconds.
Bai had challenged Blake to a duel-wielding duel, and they're weapons were moving in a very fluid motion, not wasting a single slash or stab.
Rowan was taking out the projectiles Yang sent at him as fast as he could with his rifle, a true testament to how good of a shot he was.
As Silver back flipped over a slash from Ruby that was almost able to get him, he spotted Rowan trying to keep Yang at a safe distance from him. He disappeared mid-flip and reappeared next to Rowan.
"Okay Rowan, I need your help to take Ruby down," Silver explained, "If she goes down, we'll have a speed advantage over them."
"Got it," Rowan said nonchalantly.
"You sure you're good with this?" Silver asked.
Rowan shrugged as he kept firing. "She won't hold it against me. It's just a sparring match. If anything, she'd be mad if I didn't."
Silver smirked. "Okay then, let's do it. Storm Fire!"
Silver and Rowan then stood back to back, commanding their respective elements into a small ring around them until it had two layers. One ring of fire, and another of lightning.
As Ruby circled them, trying to find a way to get through and get them, Yang trying to help, Silver and Rowan willed the rings to spin until the elements started to become intertwined and formed a whirlpool pattern. Once it was at a decent speed, they increased the range and caught Ruby off guard, burning and shocking her at the same time, putting her out of the fight.
Yang had jumped into the air at the last moment, and then used her gauntlets to boost herself towards the ground, causing a large impact and knocking Rowan out of the fight while Silver had rolled to the side before she made contact.
Bai was still locked in battle with Blake, both of them attacking, defending, and dodging with grace and speed. Bai reformed his bow just long enough to let two arrows fly at Blake, who stepped to the side and cut them in half.
Unfortunately, cutting those arrows in half was a mistake, as they blew up in her face as soon as she slashed through them, giving her no time to get away. Blake was blown back a few feet and she just got back up and walked to the sidelines.
"Stupid trick arrows…" she muttered.
Bai had however left himself open to attack as Silver was still in the middle of dodging shots Yang had fired, so he was surprised when a fist made contact with his face from the side as the blonde brawler used his opening to her advantage.
Silver got up from the floor as he recovered from the brawler's most recent attack on him, one shot having been able to hit him. He looked at Yang with a determined, but light-hearted, glare that she returned. He then sheathed his swords and drew his revolvers, aiming directly at Yang.
"Let's see if I'm as quick with these as your dad think I am," he said.
Yang grinned. "Bring it."
Yang started firing blasts from her gauntlets as fast as possible, Silver just managing to keep up with her. He jumped back after a few shots and quickly reloaded, Yang using the opportunity to charge in and try to get within punching distance.
Silver started firing as fast as possible, trying to slow her rapid advance, but couldn't do anything to deter her. Just as she got within arm's reach, and everyone thought it was over, he threw his revolvers into the air and did something crazy. He caught the punch.
Everyone in the room stared in shock and awe of what Silver had managed to do. No one had ever succeeded, much less attempted, in stopping a punch from Yang. Yang herself looked flabbergasted at what had just happened.
Silver used the distraction to send Yang flying, snapping her out of her confusion, and allowing her to land on her feet, still ready to fight.
"That was a good one," Yang said, recovering, "but I think this has been Dragon on long enough, am I right?"
Team JNPR, and the eliminated members of RWBY and SABR, along with Professor Goodwitch all groaned at the pun. Everyone else just sat in wonder at why that pun was even relevant.
Silver raised an eyebrow. "I think you're right. This has gone on Xiao Long enough."
Blake gave Silver a death glare as this time everyone in the room groaned at the pun. Now they had two of them!
Yang gave Silver a wide grin. "I think we should wrap this up then."
She and Silver got into their combat stances for a final blow as the entire room watched to see who the winner would be between the two powerhouses.
Both of them ran forward, Yang cocking her gauntlets as Silver prepared a lightning punch. Once they were within range of each other, they threw a punch, making contact with the other's face at the same time. Silver was blown back by a small explosion from Yang's gauntlet, while she was sent flying by a large electric shock.
When their final blows were dealt, everyone looked at the board that tracked everyone's Aura levels and saw that while Yang had dropped completely into the red, Silver had dropped to the very edge of the yellow, where if he had taken even one more scratch of damage, he would have been in the red.
"That's the match!" Goodwitch called out, "Team SABR is the winner!"
Everyone in the stands applauded the performance of both teams and the spectacular battle shown to them.
"Very good, all of you," Goodwitch commended, "You should all be proud of your ability, and I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to qualify for the tournament at the end of the year."
The eight students thanked the professor and went back to their seats.
As they walked back, however, Blake, Weiss, Silver, Bai, and Rowan noticed that a lot of money seemed to be changing hands among the crowd, and Silver could swear he saw Jaune handing Pyrrha twenty Lien.
The class went on without much else incident, or quite as much excitement as CRDL was quickly defeated by JNPR, and a few other quick skirmishes took place, but none of them were quite as spectacular as Team RWBY versus Team SABR.
Let's be honest, this chapter was inevitably going to happen sooner or later, and I personally think it probably happened later than it should have, but that's just what I think. So, I'm estimating at about a week or so before writing suddenly gets put on hold, so I'm going to make an effort to make a couple more updates before I have to switch to study mode. But until then, I'll keep on writing, so leave a review and tell me what you think, follow if haven't already, and I'll see you guys… Next Time!